The Zhao Family

 
The night was winding down, Ben and I were getting ready to leave. Abbey was already in her room. I went over there to say goodbye. She was already tucked in bed. We started talking as I sat next to her bed. I can see that she was dozing off and losing coherence as I was nervously composing how to say it. My heart was beating erratically as my thoughts were scattered. This was it; the moment to seize the opportunity. Not exactly the way I planned it, but nonetheless the only opportunity that I have been thinking and planning. It is now or never. I reached into my pocket, tore apart the thin clear plastic wrapper, and adjusted the ends of the adjustable children's green ctr ring. Gently held her hands laying on top of her blanket towards me. By the time I slipped the ring onto her ring finger and said, "do you want to get married", she was already asleep. I was nervously calm and was looking for any reaction from her. I waited a few more seconds. Nothing.

I tiptoed ever so slowly towards the door, turning my head back several times for any signs. Nothing. My heart was pounding. So many thoughts were rushing through my head. What did I just do! Did she hear me? Should I wake her up? Is she really the right one? Is this too early? What if she says no, how would I react? Then I told myself that if she says no, then it'll be alright. The adjustable kid's ring is only 99 cents. If she gives it back to me, I'll happily take it back and immediately toss it in the trash and we can still be friends, right? This person whom I only met a few months ago and don't know all that well; that I've only met in person a handful of times and mainly talked to her on the phone for many hours. She can't be the right person, right? We can still be friends after this and can still continue to talk on the phone after this, right? As I approached the door, turned around one more time, nothing. I turned off the light, gently closed her room door, said goodnight to Tiff, and Ben drove us back to his apartment.

The next morning I have to catch my flight back to DC. We loaded my belongings into this 4x4 and left Ben's apartment to stop by Tiff's house one last time. Rang the doorbell, Tiff opened the door. My eyes zoomed right past her seeking another person. There she was, a few feet behind Tiff. I stared right towards her finger and then looked up into her eyes for any signs. This was the moment of truth: will Abbey hand back the ring at the door?- and I just toss the ring and goodbye or will she keep it? What will her reaction be? Heart nervously pounding, body jittering, and thoughts uncomposed. The ring, the smile, the glow from her eyes! -were all there! Every single nervousness immediately dissipated, every doubt vanished, confidence took over. Ran over and hugged her. A hug she happily returned.

 
The flight. I must catch my flight back home. I didn't have much time left. So I asked Ben to drive us to the closest jewelry store so Abbey can pick out a real ring. I told her that all I had was eight hundred dollars. Being a poor college student, that was all I had, which was the leftover from my student loan the last semester. Thankfully the store was not far away, so we arrived shortly. She didn't like any of the styles or that the rings she liked were way out of budget. Fortunately, where Tiff lived, the area seemed to be like the capital of the wedding world, there were many jewelry stores concentrated in one area. Ben drove us to the next store, same scenario. Onto the third, fourth, and fifth store; same thing. My flight departure was getting closer and each store seemed to be the same and I was panicking. We only have time for two more stores. The sixth store, same.

 
Losing hope, we walked into the last store. I took a deep breath, looked Abbey in the eye, and told her if this doesn't work out, she will have to keep wearing the adjustable kid's ring until the next time we see each other. She looked and looked walking ever closer to the end of the selection. Then she asked to look at one ring that stood out. She tried it. She liked it. She looked at the price tag: one thousand dollars. She looked at me, I looked back and sighed, thinking I came this far and was so close. The owner suddenly asked if she was a college student, to which she replied yes. Then he proceeded to say there's a discount for students and the total would be seven hundred eighty dollars. My eyes and facial expression was like the sloth in the Zootopia movie, slowly dropping my jaw and opening my eyes in joy. Abbey was in shock. Ben couldn't believe it. The ring was beautiful. I quickly made the transaction, Abbey held onto the receipt so she could go back to the store to size the ring. Ben flew us to the airport. Hugged Abbey one last hug and with only twenty dollars left in my pocket; mission accomplished! I was on cloud nine on the flight home.

 
That was twenty years ago today, January 6, 2002. To this day, three kids later, she still didn't say "yes".

Who knew.

SS is learning to make money from the first snowfall of the season. He doesn't know how to clean snow off cars properly so dad gave him a quick lesson so he won't scratch the cars' paint. Armed with just a car brush and scraper we walked around the neighborhood and SS was fearless ringing doorbells and selling this pitch. First entrepreneur experience.

Very proud of him.

Anyways, I wanted to go shovel snow in the neighborhood to make some money, but as it ended up, there was no more snow on the roads or sidewalks, since the HOA had already come around and done practically all of the work. However, I noticed that people's cars were still covered in snow, and snow needs to be removed before you drive. Seeing this opportunity, dad and I went out to find our clients. The first house I knocked on had no luck. Second and third, still no bite. I wasn't ready to stop here though. As dad said, starting something was never easy. Of course, things changed, and we eventually got customers. Surprisingly, I'd say 1 person out of 2-3 people agreed to let us remove the snow from their car. (Of course, I made sure that my service was applicable to the customers which I asked. What would be the point in asking someone who already had had their car cleaned?)

After around 2 hours of this, we had gone down one side of our neighborhood and cleared the snow off of 8-10 cars out of around 15 houses. The total profit? $140. $140 in 2 hours, meaning $70 per hour! This was a great turnout especially after the disappointment regarding snow shoveling. (In regards to rates, I just asked for whatever people would be willing to pay.)

In addition, I got to meet amazing new people. For example, a lady who we serviced was a retired Girl Scout leader! She was ecstatic to see me trying to raise money for my trip, and even explained how she had needed someone to clean her car for her --"an answer to [her] prayers." She gave me $20 for cleaning, and an extra $20 for my trip! In addition, Tenin's mom (a family friend) was so happy to see me raising money. So happy, in fact, that she gave me $50! For a SINGLE CAR! This was my first taste of enterprising and I am thrilled to try it again in the near future. I learned a lot about how to sell my service to others, such as how you pitch your reason for the money before your service, so they see why you are working. I hope to try to find other ways to raise money and am really grateful for this opportunity!!